Next year, we plan to organize the work of the North Pole 2016 Drifting Ice Station, which is a research project, Artur Chilingarov, Special Presidential Representative for International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic, told the Arctic.ru website.

"Naturally, we will organize this. Currently, we are working on funding. We will seek a private-public partnership," he said.

"The North Pole stations' operation is genuine proof of Russia's presence in the Arctic," he said. "We ought to stay there," he said.

This year, the seasonal drifting ice station — North Pole 2015 (NP-2015) — officially launched on April 18. The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry is a public procurement authority and the coordinator of the 2012-2020 Environmental Protection State Program, which includes a project on creating and operating the NP-2015 seasonal drifting station.

An extensive range of meteorological, aerological, sea hydrology and glaciology surveys have been implemented at the station. Hydrochemistry, hydrobiology and magnetometric research has been conducted as well.